Bloomberg reports: “Medicare for All Gets Renewed Push After Pandemic Devastation.”
EAGAN KEMP, via Derrick Robinson, drobinson@citizen.org
Kemp serves as health care policy advocate for Public Citizen. He just wrote the white paper: “Unprepared for COVID-19: How the Pandemic Makes the Case for Medicare for All.”
Said Kemp: “The pandemic has shown how wide the gaps in our health care system remain and how easy it is for families to fall through them. Too many Americans were already suffering unnecessarily prior to the pandemic and COVID-19 just exacerbated the challenges people face. We already spend far more than any comparably wealthy country on health care while achieving far less and were left wholly unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Among the group’s findings:
• “Before the pandemic, approximately 87 million Americans were uninsured or underinsured. About one-third of COVID-19 deaths and 40 percent of infections were tied to a lack of insurance.”

• “About half of Americans receive their health care through their employer. With more than 22 million Americans losing their job during the pandemic, millions have lost their health insurance.”

• “Racial health disparities, including access to care, have led to disproportionate deaths in communities of color.”

• “Historical under funding of long-term care — the majority of long-term care are funded by Medicaid at minimal rates — left many nursing homes unprepared for a pandemic and already struggling to contain infectious diseases.”